Review: Volume Two of Kikaida carries us into episodes 5-10 of the series. What this adds up to is more of the same in the best of possible ways; More Monster fighting, more explosions and more classic good against evil fun. Jiro continues in his struggle against the evil DARK, and Professor Gill just keeps churning out the Dark Destructoids.

One of the main draws of the storyline through these five episodes is the wandering predicament of the amnesia infected Dr. Komyoji. In episode 6, he stumbles into the office of Detective Hattori Hanpei while attempting to escape a group of DARK minions. Hanpei agrees to help him discover who he is once Komyoji offers up his valuable ring left behind by his late wife. Of course, the Dr.’s son and daughter, Mitsuko and Masaru remain but a breath away from him during the course of the chapters. Meanwhile, Professor Gill continues to dispatch incompetent monsters to hatch his crazy schemes such as developing an evil formula, and stealing newly developed weapons from local laboratories.

The list of monsters is almost as fearsome this time around as it was in volume one. Jiro tackles the might of Black Horse, Bull Kong, Carmine Spider, Red Condor and Scorpion Brown. The costumes are as goofy as ever, and ranking the episodes in order of pure entertainment value, the Bull Kong episode, number 7, claims top spot. This is by far one of the funnier and insane Destructoids, as he splits his body into multiple sections and hides different parts in different trunks, much to the chagrin of the fools who open the cases.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the Red Condor episode. Out of all the episodes prior to this, number 9 is the only one that drops the bar down a little bit. Maybe it’s the crusty plot to set up a DARK base in a rural village and perform experiments on a biological weapon. But then again, the condor does kill a few people. No, it has to be the fact that Red Condor looks like a giant comforter eating Foghorn Leghorn. The other Destructoid get-ups are either funny or cool, but I shed a single tear for the man in that suit.

The action is, once again, more that you would expect assuming you viewed the first volume before this one. It’s fast, flip-heavy and damn fun. It’s the kind of stuff you only get from those old “Curse you [hero’s name], I’ll be back next week!!” shows. Marvel at Jiro’s ability to appear on a roof, and then be riding his motorcycle as Kikaida no less than .05 seconds later (which is, coincidentally, the amount of time it takes unrelated hero Space Sheriff Gaban to transform ~Nerd Fact 2162~).

Nevertheless, Ban Daisuke proves even further that all I need to be cool is a tethered-sleeved denim outfit and a bright red guitar on my back. If I dressed half as cool as he did I wouldn’t be sitting here writing a review for the second volume of a Tokusatsu television series from 1972. At least he promotes helmet safety in the most manly of ways. Professor Gill still watches too much TV and Hattori Hanpei is still funny, regardless of what the cool kids on the playground tell you.